Damaged trailer wiring harness

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
1

1carguy

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Posts
54
While backing up my 2004 Wilderness TT, I had to nearly jack knife the rig to get it into the trailer storage spot. Unfortunately, the big wiring harness that plugs into my suburban got caught in the trailer hitch and was nearly pinched in half, blowing a couple of fuses in the truck but I think the trailer circuits weren't shorted out. We'll see once I repair it. Rather than attempting to patch it up, I thought I should just replace this harness. It's about 4-5' long and goes into a rectangular box bolted up under the frame of the trailer. Doesn't look like a big job but any suggestions where I can buy a new cable? I've also heard that not all of these 7 wire cables are color coded to a standard, and might not match up the original colors. Anyone have knowledge of this?
thanks
 
I always thought that they were standardized but maybe not. You can buy them at any RV store. You can check the new one against the old one by taking continuity checks with a meter. Make yourself a picture of the end of the old plug and figure out what color wire goes to each hole on the end of the plug. Then compare it to the new one. Shouldn't be difficult to do.
 
Dig in, you're thinking too much. Peel back all the tape and see whats what. Maybe you don't need anything but a roll of the GOOD electrical tape, not the cheap stuff that cost half what the Scotch/3M does.
The pinched spot needs to be repaired or cut out anyway. I doubt you can find enough slack in the remaining harness to make up the difference, if much has to be cut out. You pull slack out of the trailer harness, you tighten wire runs, they may chafe more on surfaces and edges they didn't lay against before, and you may be just a wee short and have more binding when turning. If you splice new wires in make it long enough to hang down with the safety chains. Cross it around the chain closest to the T/V outlet so the pigtail has to get by the chain to get near the tongue. Unhook the pigtail when jacking it into tight spots. 

Bill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,643 (members: 33, guests: 1,610)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,975
Posts
1,388,545
Members
137,725
Latest member
Got Mojo
Back
Top Bottom